Software/Website Title: BarryfunEnglish
Website URL: www.barryfunenglish.com
Grade/Age Level: K-12
This site was created to support the teaching of ESL students. Though this is a paid subscription website, there are various free materials and activities that anybody can use to try out the site. Though the site doesn’t mention it, barryfunenglish is supports English learning in an exciting and visually stimulating fashion.
There are numerous features to this website including a vocabulary viewer, flash games, printable worksheets and flashcards, downloadable powerpoint presentations, as well as teacher tools such as stopwatch, random student selector, and an English name maker.
Not only can teachers download from a considerably source of pre-made worksheets, they can also customize and print their own through a user-friendly interface. There are numerous templates for teachers to choose from to effectively suit the needs of their students.
This website has really changed the face of my teaching. Before my class would play games, but there came a point when I was struggling and looked for fresh ideas. Barryfunenglish was my answer. Every week my students practically beg to play the flash games such as Crazy Cups, where three cups move around containing a ball inside. The speed progressively gets faster and students need to recall the correct vocabulary term, or phrase in order to make their choice. There’s another hidden picture game that students love where teams can play against each other in order to get the most points. Another wheel of fortune-type game is a lot of fun and really keeps students actively engaged. Also, the site allows teachers to input student names and create name lists for each class so that students can see whose turn it is in the games. I believe this feature helps make them even more involved in their learning.
For the teaching of new vocabulary, this website is superb. The vocabulary viewer shows students flashcards for each item and gives the option of whether or not to show the text the recorded sound of the written words. Games can be played in class that will help students recall and focus on the vocabulary, and supplementary worksheets can be given as well. Some of the activities also help reinforce grammar points and spoken English in a fun way with pictures and games.
All of the online flash games help students practice the new language and assess by keeping track of the points that teams earn. The vocabulary viewer doesn’t offer a tool yet to keep track of vocabulary terms that they have missed or gotten correct, but the teacher can usually tell which words the students need more practice on. It’s easy to go back to previous pictures if your students are struggling.
Another strength of this website is its user-friendly interface and clean layout. Each of the different features of the site is clearly labeled and easy to navigate. Though this website has many strong features, there are several aspects that could be improved upon. The games and activities which promote speaking and the use of complete sentences could be added onto for example, and more grammar activities would also be nice. Though teachers are able to create customized word lists and worksheets, it would also be great if they were able to upload these onto the website for perusal and use by other teachers. Lastly, though most of the games on the site are fun, they can be time consuming and teachers should cognizant of this. Yet, overall I have to say that this is one of the best websites that I have ever found on the web for ESL/EFL teachers and I highly recommend it.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Corpus Based Language Learning Reflections
The lexical approach
J. Richards & T. Rogers (2001)
This text introduces the lexical approach in language teaching which refers to the belief that the building blocks of language learning and communication are lexis, or, words and word combinations. This approach holds ‘chunks’, or multiword lexical units, as well as vocabulary as central to language learning (p.132). Collocation is also important in lexical theories, which refers to the regular occurrence together or words. Though some researchers criticize the lexical approach as putting too much of a cognitive load on students, I do see the advantages of language learners developing a repertoire of common phrases and lexical ‘chunks’. In my own experiences learning Korean, I’ve found that learning these kind of high frequency word combinations has really come in handy when communication in day to day situations with natives.
Using corpora, or large collections of writings that have been stored digitally, researchers can manipulate the data to find word frequencies as well as specific example sentences to exemplify certain language points. Several types of materials and teaching resources to support lexical approaches in language teaching include complete course packages including texts, tapes, and teachers manuals, collections of vocabulary teaching activities, “printout” versions of computer corpora collections packaged in text format, and computer concordancing programs and attached data sets (p. 136). I find that these types of materials would be a beneficial aid for teachers and students in language learning classrooms. After some training as language analysts, students can do independent research and be challenged to come up with their own generalizations about language. In other words, we teachers can help foster student curiosity of language and help them to become ‘language detectives’.
From printout to handout: Grammar and vocabulary teaching in the context of Data-driven Learning
Tim Johns (1994)
This article was quite dense and honestly a bit difficult to read, but I’ll attempt to comment on the ideas that I took from it.
Tim Johns discusses the teaching of grammar in light of new technological advances which allow us to draw upon large language corpuses to attempt new language teaching strategies that were not possible previously. Lists of sentences that all incorporate a certain language function can be drawn up using computer models and used for teaching. Students can attempt to notice patterns between different chunks of words and also create generalizations based on their observations.
In language learning classrooms, Johns posits that “first, we need to provide adequate opportunities, in classes and in individual consultations, for students to raise problems and queries, which in turn can help us to see the directions which our teaching should take. Second, we should attempt to make our teaching transferable in the sense that strategies developed in the classroom for ‘puzzling out’ how the language works should also be applicable outside the classroom (p. 295). Both of these points are very sound and I especially like how these new language models using language condorance samples can help students become more reflective and independent learners. Rather than learning ‘grammar rules,’ by taking a deeper look at authentic language samples, students can not only come up with their own rules but also make decisions about their ‘appropriacy.’
J. Richards & T. Rogers (2001)
This text introduces the lexical approach in language teaching which refers to the belief that the building blocks of language learning and communication are lexis, or, words and word combinations. This approach holds ‘chunks’, or multiword lexical units, as well as vocabulary as central to language learning (p.132). Collocation is also important in lexical theories, which refers to the regular occurrence together or words. Though some researchers criticize the lexical approach as putting too much of a cognitive load on students, I do see the advantages of language learners developing a repertoire of common phrases and lexical ‘chunks’. In my own experiences learning Korean, I’ve found that learning these kind of high frequency word combinations has really come in handy when communication in day to day situations with natives.
Using corpora, or large collections of writings that have been stored digitally, researchers can manipulate the data to find word frequencies as well as specific example sentences to exemplify certain language points. Several types of materials and teaching resources to support lexical approaches in language teaching include complete course packages including texts, tapes, and teachers manuals, collections of vocabulary teaching activities, “printout” versions of computer corpora collections packaged in text format, and computer concordancing programs and attached data sets (p. 136). I find that these types of materials would be a beneficial aid for teachers and students in language learning classrooms. After some training as language analysts, students can do independent research and be challenged to come up with their own generalizations about language. In other words, we teachers can help foster student curiosity of language and help them to become ‘language detectives’.
From printout to handout: Grammar and vocabulary teaching in the context of Data-driven Learning
Tim Johns (1994)
This article was quite dense and honestly a bit difficult to read, but I’ll attempt to comment on the ideas that I took from it.
Tim Johns discusses the teaching of grammar in light of new technological advances which allow us to draw upon large language corpuses to attempt new language teaching strategies that were not possible previously. Lists of sentences that all incorporate a certain language function can be drawn up using computer models and used for teaching. Students can attempt to notice patterns between different chunks of words and also create generalizations based on their observations.
In language learning classrooms, Johns posits that “first, we need to provide adequate opportunities, in classes and in individual consultations, for students to raise problems and queries, which in turn can help us to see the directions which our teaching should take. Second, we should attempt to make our teaching transferable in the sense that strategies developed in the classroom for ‘puzzling out’ how the language works should also be applicable outside the classroom (p. 295). Both of these points are very sound and I especially like how these new language models using language condorance samples can help students become more reflective and independent learners. Rather than learning ‘grammar rules,’ by taking a deeper look at authentic language samples, students can not only come up with their own rules but also make decisions about their ‘appropriacy.’
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Interaction: Getting the Right Mix
In Getting the Mix Right Again: An updated and theoretical rationale for
interaction, Terry Anderson presents us with the equivalency theorem to explain different modes of interaction and their relative effectiveness. This theorem informs us that out of all the possible modes of interaction, student-student, student-teacher, student-content, no one mode supersedes another. Any particular mode can be highlighted or focused upon to attain effective levels of interaction. Anderson states that “Deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student–teacher; student-student; student-content) is at a high level. The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or even eliminated, without degrading the educational experience” (p.7). It is important to keep in mind when choosing a format of interaction, that “all types of interaction should be assessed by their contribution to the learning process.” (P.5).
This model may challenge many teachers’ conceptions about effective interaction models. Some teachers may feel that teacher-student interactions and lecture formats are the best, while other teachers might focus on student-student interaction and be averse to using high levels of student-content interactions. Teachers of the latter may feel that using cost saving measures such as online courses with video lectures that reduce the level of teacher-student interaction are unfavorable. As Anderson states, “Some student-teacher interactions can be automated, and thus substituted in whole or part, through the development and use of content resources, and especially those utilizing autonomous teacher agents. This practice migrates Net based forms of student-teacher interaction (emails, conferencing discussion, etc.) to student-content interactions (teacher videos, virtual labs, personalized FAQs, etc.)” p.8. Thus, it’s possible for students to still experience effective interaction despite having the mode or model of interaction shift.
I find this model helpful because many teachers are confused about what kinds of interactions they should promote in their classrooms. Some worry that they need to go through the full range of interaction for every class. Yet, I think one important factor that teachers should keep in mind when designing lessons is that any teacher can implement the full range of interactions given an adequate amount of time with students. On some days, teachers can focus on student-content interactions, and the next week they can implement classroom activities that promote student-student interactions. As long as students are experiencing interaction to a high degree in any form, they are likely to be learning and satisfied with their learning.
As a side note, I was having a little trouble understanding what exactly content-conent interaction means in this article. Could anyone elucidate?
interaction, Terry Anderson presents us with the equivalency theorem to explain different modes of interaction and their relative effectiveness. This theorem informs us that out of all the possible modes of interaction, student-student, student-teacher, student-content, no one mode supersedes another. Any particular mode can be highlighted or focused upon to attain effective levels of interaction. Anderson states that “Deep and meaningful formal learning is supported as long as one of the three forms of interaction (student–teacher; student-student; student-content) is at a high level. The other two may be offered at minimal levels, or even eliminated, without degrading the educational experience” (p.7). It is important to keep in mind when choosing a format of interaction, that “all types of interaction should be assessed by their contribution to the learning process.” (P.5).
This model may challenge many teachers’ conceptions about effective interaction models. Some teachers may feel that teacher-student interactions and lecture formats are the best, while other teachers might focus on student-student interaction and be averse to using high levels of student-content interactions. Teachers of the latter may feel that using cost saving measures such as online courses with video lectures that reduce the level of teacher-student interaction are unfavorable. As Anderson states, “Some student-teacher interactions can be automated, and thus substituted in whole or part, through the development and use of content resources, and especially those utilizing autonomous teacher agents. This practice migrates Net based forms of student-teacher interaction (emails, conferencing discussion, etc.) to student-content interactions (teacher videos, virtual labs, personalized FAQs, etc.)” p.8. Thus, it’s possible for students to still experience effective interaction despite having the mode or model of interaction shift.
I find this model helpful because many teachers are confused about what kinds of interactions they should promote in their classrooms. Some worry that they need to go through the full range of interaction for every class. Yet, I think one important factor that teachers should keep in mind when designing lessons is that any teacher can implement the full range of interactions given an adequate amount of time with students. On some days, teachers can focus on student-content interactions, and the next week they can implement classroom activities that promote student-student interactions. As long as students are experiencing interaction to a high degree in any form, they are likely to be learning and satisfied with their learning.
As a side note, I was having a little trouble understanding what exactly content-conent interaction means in this article. Could anyone elucidate?
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